What’s worse is that the grandad knew his comic collection would be big one day and locked them in his safe to preserve them and he was right and they got sold for 100 dollars 😭😭😭
I know your pain. Back in the early 60's I had EVERY Marvel grail of Spider-man, DD, FF, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, etc. I spent every cent I had buying mostly Marvel titles and had every first appearance. At one point I had over 200 books and my mom told me she was sick and tired of seeing them scattered around my room and to throw them away. I ended up selling them to the kid next door for $10. When I told my mom she flipped, saying I had cheated him and demanded I give him back his money. Afterwards, any time a comic I had was on the news for selling for a record breaking price I'd mention to her that I had owned that comic but she made me give it away. I'd like to say I got a little revenge that way but every time I told her she basically couldn't have cared less. I couldn't afford to buy even one of those books at today's prices.
Not in the same league but in the early 70's I had the Marvel Spotlights and 1st 20 or so Ghost Riders. My mum knew I liked comics and to be fair on the whole never nagged me to get rid of them. However one day she noticed the Ghost Rider and Son of Satan comics. I never saw them again. I guess she figured they were a bad influence.
Look at it this way -- you had life experiences that most collectors would envy. You were an O.G. Marvelite and personally helped transform the company into a success and then a cultural institution, by spending your nickels and dimes. You read the landmark stories when they were new, and anxiously awaited each mind-blowing new installment of your favorite titles. Nobody can take those things away, and even if they're intangible, so is the experience of seeing a top-flight musical act live, meeting a personal hero or attending a historic sporting event. So rock on with the glass half full. :)
@@reprintranch I agree with you 100%. Nothing today compares with the wonder and excitement I experienced with every new issue. Tom, any chance that you're of Norwegian ancestry? I have cousins back in Norway who are also Nordlies.
@@greatpix Hi Robert -- Thanks for the reply, and I'm glad that you find enjoyment in the fact that you were a real-time reader of so much classic Marvel material. You deserve to feel good about recognizing the appeal and substance of Marvel comics right off the bat. My own story is a variation -- back when I was in grade school (late 1960s, early '70s) one of my neighborhood friends had access to darn near every Marvel super-hero comic (and Sgt. Fury comic) published from about 1965 onward, courtesy of his two older brothers, who generously allowed their twerp brother and his twerp friends to read their comics. We'd sit in the TV room plowing through issue after issue while "Gilligan's Island" reruns (or whatever) played in the background. Though I never owned any comics from that collection, by the age of 10 I had read probably all of them (a few hundred) and I found them exciting, artful and sophisticated -- at least for a kid. Altogether, that collection made a big, very positive impact on me and there are some specific images and stories that I remember vividly, such as "Them!" from Tales of Suspense 78. To answer your question, my Dad's father was full-blooded Norwegian, his parents having come to the U.S. in the 1880s as homesteading farmers, like so many Norwegians, Swedes and Finns. As I understand it, the name Nordlie was adopted by my family a few generations ago, and was previously Peterson (or some spelling variation.) I have no idea why the name was changed. Anyway, cheers to your cousins, and you can assure them that I am NOT the famous Norwegian football (soccer) coach named Tom Nordlie, I'm an unknown comic nerd with the same name.
I feel your pain, man. Two stories to soothe you... Back in '91, my buddy and I, both in our early twenties are packing up our booth at a local comic convention and a guy in a postal uniform comes up and asks me if I'm interested in buying some comics and hands me a small box with about 15 comics in it. This box has ASM 1, FF 1, Avengers 1 and X-Men 1, along with a dozen other SA issues in it. I check to see if these are the reprints and they're not and these are easily 9.0's or better. I think, "Geez, I've only got about $300 in my pocket." I ask my buddy if he's got any cash and he says about $100. For whatever reason, I don't even make an offer on these, thinking $300 ain't gonna cut it. I tell him, "Hey man, these 4 comics are worth a lot of money." i then proceed to buy FF100 and Cap 101 - 105 from him - all are 9.2's or better. Later, and really every moment since that day, I try to kick my own ass for not even offering him $300 for the box or at least one or two of those #1's. Sheer dumbassery. # 2 - I bought Hulk 181 as a kid. Left it at my grandmother's. She throws it away. I'm 7 ... cash is not easy to come by and I don't want to buy that comic again at the flea market she took us to as there are others coming out that I want to read. It's 2021 and that's the last time i owned that comic.
That Hulk 181 being tossed is a tragedy! when I went off to college my parents threw out every single original pokemon card which are now worth thousands - I had binders and binders and binders
@@MintHunterComics We had the Original Pokemon Starter Decks and because we did not know Anything about card gaming,we sold them around $50.00 each,Without checking their value in 2017!Could you please,tell us how much each 1998 Pokemon Starter Deck cards is worth before we strike our head to the wall?😭😭😭
Okay but isn't there also the possibility that this guy is just telling you a tall tale just to see your reaction? It's possible he never had any comics at all but he saw that they were valuable on a television show so he's just seeing what kind of reaction he can get out of you
I’ve had people I know and trust tell me they had comics they didn’t and in grades they didn’t. This happened to Mint Hunter when the person offered a facsimile thinking it was the first print just the other week. Happens
I have a good story from a comic shop in Branson Missouri. According to what they told me a younger guy around 20 years old came in with his grandfather’s ASM 1-800 and sold it all for $1000 I bought a good 20-30 early keys because the condition was SO GOOD and cheap. The comic book store owner told him of the value and the kid said he didn’t have the time because of school and needs quick cash. Didn’t believe him until he showed me ASM 1 ready to be shipped to CGC looked like a 8.0 It happens still. This was a year ago.
It’s a tough call. The problem is that if you tell him what they’re worth and offer to sell them for him for a percentage, I guarantee that he will just keep them, possibly call an auction house and you won’t see a penny. I’d hate myself, but I would probably end up buying them from him for $100.
Oh I would have totally paid 100 and been fine but that's cause those aren't books I'd be interested in reselling and otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford most of those big books
Agreed. Also, the guy literally just inherited this from his father and had zero respect for what his father left him. This was just handed to him... just like it was then handed to the buyer. It was life-changing money... for the buyer, because he knew what he was dealing in and put the effort to get out there and find those deals.
That's a good question about what would I do if I got there when he had all those comics? My normal inclination would be to ask what he wants for them (or whatever he is selling and I am trying to buy, be it comics or not) and then maybe negotiate, then settle on a price. I can't see myself saying, "oh no these are worth way more than $100.....so here, let me give you $10k (or whatever). Nope. If he doesn't know the value of what he is selling, that is on him. Just like all those stories of people finding valuable works of art/paintings at garage sales and antique shops.....fair game.
Eh, I'd take that guy's story with a grain of salt. I sell at flea markets and vendors tell those kind of stories all day long just to keep customers coming back. Like you said, everyone knows. If anything, people who are out of touch don't understand how worthless most comics are. They think everything is gold. Just this past week, I was talking to a seller and mentioned Garbage Pail Kids. He immediately launched into a story about how he had just sold "a full set" of cards for $50. "Oh, you just missed it!" They'll play dumb just to get you to dig through their stuff a little longer. It's the same reason I'll seed the dollar comic boxes with a few $10-$15 comics.
TLDR - either pay fair market for them or rip him off (I lean towards rip off personally, since I can't afford fair market) Here's the thing I don't see anybody saying - all comic transactions I have had for books that are backstock consist of the same conversation. Me: "Would you take (insert dollar amount here) for these books?" Them: "Yes" OR "No, the least I would take is (insert different dollar amount). The amount I offer depends on my budget and how much I think an individual comic is worth to me. Here is the important part - NEVER OFFER TO BE THE MIDDLEMAN ON ANYTHING. Unless you're willing to write up a contract, greed inevitably get the better of one of the two parties. The other person will inevitably agree to your "deal" and then go do his own research. Then he'll find the real value and want to renegotiate. Read stories of people who pooled money for lottery tickets, won and then one person went and kept all the money. Someone always feels like they didn't get their fair shake. Do what is best for your collection and don't worry about anyone else.
Years ago a buddy of mine had an ASM1, Hulk 180, 181, & 182 mixed in with other books he had owned as a child. I told him I wanted them, but couldn’t afford them right then. I told him I would buy them. He still GAVE them away to a friends kid who was just learning to read. Gonna go cry over that now.
I hear these stories so much which is another reason to slab you valuable comics. Otherwise they could fall into enemy hands and somebody gives grails away for nothing to a child who may ruin them. Nobody is giving a stack of cash to child but a $10k comic book sitting in a old box? Why not? haha I think if they are slabbed though people know it is valuable and we be more hesitant to give it away or sell for cheap and get conned.
That's why the comics are better in the hands of the buyer. If this guy would sell them for $100, he would also easily just give them away to a 5-year-old or throw them in the fireplace on a cold night.
They're only worth whatever he was willing to sell them for. You snooze you loose. At least the comics are now in the hands of someone that knows their value. The guy you are describing didn't deserve them. I see this as a story with a happy ending.
Truth. I could see that guy (the seller) just literally burning them for firewood. He had no respect for them or the legacy that his father left to him and his child. Better in the hands of someone who would appreciate them.
These things still happen with barnyard finds even with vintage automobiles. People get stuff given to them and have no interest. It's too bad you couldn't see them in person. I would have paid him the 100 as well the guy clearly didnt do the research in the stuff he was selling
My family has been antique dealers for fifty plus years. We use to set up at mall shows back in the 1980's. We had a gentleman ask if we purchased comics and told him yes. He said he would be back the next day. He arrived at our booth the next day pulling a hand cart with five long boxes. The long boxes were full with alk comics bagged and boarded. He collected Marvel comics exclusively. The books were in alphabetical and numerical order starting with Amazing Spider-Man. They started at number 4 and went to number 50. Next was Fantastic Four number 4 through 75. Conan the Barbarian number 4 through 35. X-Men number 4 through 65.Thor 107 through 140ish. Date devil 4 through 45. You see a pattern. His brother had sold all of the issues 1 through 3 to a local comic shop a couple years before for $1500.00. This brother was just heart broken and wanted to get rid of the rest before he lost them all to his brother. He wanted $500 a $100 A long box.
The problem with telling someone that they have something thats way more valuable than their asking price is that you’ll run into to very real possibility of sparking their interest in researching it online and then wanting max value (even if they aren’t NM). Sure they might be thankful but now you walk away empty handed. A lot of people here have commented that its the tight thing to do, or you can help him sell them for what they’re worth in exchange for a few. The bottom line is, no one here is gonna willfully price themselves out of a collection like that.
Your so right. I dream of finding an incredible hulk #1 like that I might feel a little guilty but I would buy that book and probably a few I didn't want just so he wouldn't get suspicious.
You run into a very fine line and if you tell the person you are going to sell them for them and you will split the profits you will have nosy family members start to chime in as all of a sudden they are experts and that they may demand more or worse get lawyers involved. Not to mention they will be calling you every 24 hours thinking you have run off with their windfall of good fortune. No good deed goes unpunished and you should have never told him how much the books were worth, because you don't know where he is financially. Telling someone how much something is could cause them to go bonkers. Maybe they are having a yard sale to raise money for an operation or for a family member or help them buy a car or pay for college. Sometimes it's best for people to remain ignorant. This almost falls along the line of lottery winners who go bankrupt in 5 years. Some people may have never had more than 10k in their bank account and to mention something like 500k they think they are rich.
@@johnwayne2103 Yea, just think of the guy that found an Action 1 in the wall of an old house. He knew what it was and then showed his family telling them it was worth a fortune. In comes the mother in law and tries to snatch the book from the guy and causes a 100 thousand dollar rip along the back cover. People are ignorant animals. Those books belong in better hands. 🤦🏻♂️
I think the sad thing about it all....if any of us with awesome comic book collections pass away suddenly, most family members would probably sell it, just to get rid of it for cheap and eliminate space or not worry about storage fees. It's just how it is. There are times where I had to get rid of comic book collections or high priced comics to vehicles which I instantly regret. So, my feeling now is...if I die and family members trash it or sell it cheap, at least I'm not alive to stress about it. As for the case of what happened, I think many collectors want a deal and would offer the money and if they bite, they got a steal. While you know they lost out on a lot of money, what's done is done and I would just keep it to myself and just move on.
Did he specifically say 1960s? Because there is a real chance the Spiderman comics he mentioned coulda been the 1991 McFarlane series. Or the 1970s Spectacular or 1970s Spidey Super Stories. All 3 ran at least 80 issues so it's highly likely. I've had people say "HEY! I GOT OLD SPIDERMANS!" only to bring out the 90s McFarlanes, Spectacular or Marvel Tales.
Speaking of Marvel Tales, perhaps the owner had a long run of Marvel Tales starting with issue 137, when they reprinted Amazing Fantasy 15 and then proceeded to reprint all the Ditko and early Romita issues in sequence. A non-fan could easily confuse "comics with all the early Spider-Man material" and "all the early Spider-Man comics."
Well, damn. That would definitely be painful. On both ends. Missing it and having sold it. Lol! I'd like to think that I would tried to have made a deal with him to sell them for him for some sort of reasonable fee... Either a fair piece of the $ or maybe one of the books.
It would be difficult to do, you would want to keep them for yourself, but the right thing to do would be to help him sell them, and devide the profits.
I think I would probably buy them and then send him a check afterwards, maybe even anonymously after speaking with a lawyer and paying the taxes. Getting the person involved might make things sticky and bring in a lot of legal drama.
Comic books kept in a safe for a long time could have rusty staples. Not that it would matter at that price. Put silica gel in your safe with your valuable comics.
The guy who bought those books....if you are listening....just do the right thing and contact that previous owner....and work out a deal that you both win at. If you don't - Sheez - what kind of scam artist are you that can live with such selfishness?
He didnt get swindled, its the seller’s responsibility to know the value of whats being sold, nobody is going to say “hey im not going to pay $100 dollars because these are worth about a half a million that i dont have so just keep them” everybody is going to pay that $100 and get the hell outta there. So its not the buyers fault at all
Nooooooo!! Omg that’s insane! But yes I have to agree.. isn’t it good luck that you got to witness that? And it instills hope that it could possibly happen again. You don’t know what you don’t know 😏
People will go their entire lives before running these comics especially in high grade, and they were handled to some dude on a silver platter lol. Its like winning the lottery but arguably even more exciting!
Honestly, it’s a great story…. But…. I doubt it’s what you think…. “Untouched are probably 3.0-6.0….. 1-80 are probably missing many key issues…. But the thing is you will never know (unless a local guy starts selling his “grandfathers” collection……. ) you can’t let it get you down…… it’s just “the one that got away”
A sad story: I arrived at a yard sale to see this old guy sitting on a porch thumbing through cards and I'm like oh f***! I asked the lady how much are the cards. She tells me shes selling each box for $5.... The old guy had already grabbed about 30 of the boxes. All 1950s through 1970s Baseball, Football and Hockey. One box was sitting aside and I was able to sift through it real fast before she told me oh that ones sold too. It was 1979-80 Hockey. I saw at least 4 Gretzky rookies.... I even told her Ill pay $100 for just one of the Gretzkys. Nope, she wouldn't do that.. So I lingered around and I guess the guy got nervous and paid her for 20 of the boxes and literally took off walking quite fast. Got in his van and sped off. I wound up buying the rest sight unseen. Even though I missed all the 1950s-1973 baseball, ALL the football and hockey, I still walked away with well over $5,000 in Baseball cards. Had I been earlier by TEN minutes, I probably woulda scored over $100,000+ in cards. I unboxed them on my channel that day tho!
I’d honestly pay what he wants. Only because as soon as you tell someone the real value. They get greedy then want to keep them and sell them theirselves. If you bought them for $100. And decided to sell them. You can come back and give him what you think is fair. Most times that back fires and get P/O
Now im not as knowledgeable about comics and you dont know what you dont know, but as a fairly a new reader even I would assume those books to not be at cover price. What he said is definitely a best case scenario though. Spiderman has had so many different series through the years so a 1 through an exaggerated 80 of another kind of spiderman book sounds more probable to me. But hey miracles exist. 😅
I mean we live in a world where you can do your research (and should before selling something). Do I feel bad for the guy who could have made thousands? Nope. Do I feel like I would have done what the buyer did though? Also nope
I definitely wouldn't have swindled him. I would have bought it for $100 and then sold it all, and split the proceeds with him. If they were raw the split would probably be 50/50, and if they were slabbed I would give him 80 or 90%.
I want to share a slightly different story . a couple of years ago i was at a jewelers with my friend who was hoping to some weight in junk silver jewellery into cash and in front of us was a man who had just shown the owner an old gold us coin but he was only offered $50 for it . which he he declined it...but as he was leaving I asked if I could see it... it was a one dollar gold US GOLD COIN and I new that it had a gold content at that day of around $150... I had a $100 bill in my pocket and offered it to him and he accepted it and then I could see the look of anger or rage in the proprietor's face and i had a good feeling about what I had done.... I gave him twice the value of what this businessman would have given him but still made a good investment ..
I wonder if that person has made it public somewhere. Sad story for a lot of us but I still think that there's a lot of comics out there that are worth thousands under an old basement or attic.
Oh man, thats brutal!! Keep fighting the good fight and you'll be that first guy to the table eventually. Love your channel. We like the same books thats for sure, lots of the same taste on my channel. Keep up the great work!
It's His Loss. It Could Have Been Worse He Could Have Gotten Them 4 $20.00 Buck's Don't Go To Far If i Died & Left My Collection I bet They Will End In The Trash ....
I would have taken them for $100, got them all graded. Sold them and gone back and given him half the cash. If you tell him and he says they aren't for sale anymore I think he would still get ripped off anyway or some other shmoe would be making a fat cut.
Wooooooooooow. I have various ideas of what I think I would have done but honestly I have no idea. Maybe tell value of a few books I know, one on higher end, one on lower, then told him what I could afford to see if he’d take it?
Idk what I would of done. I think the guy would of saw right through me. You can kinda tell when someone is into something. Like this guy who paid 100.... he was calm and cool the entire time. My heart would be racing and shaking.
So true, he must have flipping out internally. I have no idea how he kept his composure enough to snag all that. Im keeping my eye out on ebay for high grade complete runs of early spider hahaha
@@MintHunterComics - Definitely do a follow up video if you find it. Think I saw in a video that you were from NJ. I am as well. Going to Collector Fest tomorrow in Wayne.
Personally, I couldn't do that to someone especially if I know they're not rich. I like to think I would have told him they are worth a lot more than $100, and offered to help him sell them for a 30% commission. I'd also tell him I'd like that ASM #1 for $1000, and it would be fair. I tell me son that in our family, we pay our debts and we don't take advantage of people.
My god, the fact that someone was keeping something in a safe should have been a wake up call. I'd give him the $100 because I probably wouldn't have more cash available but I would return with a % of my profits upon selling them. Its kind of like your buddy buys you a card and chucks in a lotto ticket as a cheap birthday present. You win a million dollars surely you would have to split it? Then again plenty wouldn't.
I would of bought them for a $100.00. But after I got the real money for them I would of returned with a check of $500,000. Minus a fee/expenses. And if AF 15 was there well that would be for me.
I gave my daughter a large binder of Pokémon cards when she was a kid because Pokémon was just about dead at the time. She immediately sold it to a kid at school for 10 bucks and a sandwich. It would be worth about 30k today. I try not to think about it.
If anybody tells you they wouldn't have walked away for as little money it's possible, they're lying. I would like to think that I would have given them a little bit more, and then send him a good lump sum as a "Gift" No reasons given. Actually, a pretty similar story happened to me, no where no the scale of this honestly. I found several major keys in dollar bins at a LCS. In that situation and as well as this, it would be foolish to negotiate yourself OUT of saving so much money.
Are you sure it was AMAZING Spider-Man. They could well have been Web of Spider-Man or the 90s McFarlane Spider-Man. If he thought cover price was what they were worth, that's a lot closer to the 100$. At cover price the guy could have bought ASM at 50.
I remember going to an estates sale that advertised "old 1940s comics,". Just missed getting them when another guy picked them up. Don't know the titles.
i always had fantasies about coming across things like that and getting my favorite comics for practically nothing. then i remember that i am a decent human being. i would have bought them, sold what i wanted to sell and give him about 50% of the net (after my taxes are taken out). yes, people should do their own research. and finders keepers and all that stuff. but it literally is stealing from someone who likely can't afford it. if i was looking to just get stuff for my own PC then that's a different story. because in that scenario both of us make out well.
@@MintHunterComics also to clarify I over simplified my comment, I would do an appraisal, since this is a small but financially powerful I would do it complimentary. Give him raw and cgc values and let him decide on which direction to go and estimated turn around times
Story of my life... "oh yeah, an hour ago I gave away my original collection because I needed space."😒. I would bring real money back to him cuz I've been screwed before and that's a shitty feeling.
That one hurts. My best story was the time my girlfriend and I were vacationing in Rhode Island a few years ago. We go to a garage sale where the guy has a huge comic collection he’s selling. High grade 1960s Hulks and other Marvels including a decent 181. Unfortunately, I don’t have a couple hundred on me (what he was asking), so I rushed to find an ATM in an area I’m not familiar with. It’s like a freaking nightmare, hoping the guy won’t come to his senses before we return. Sure enough, when we return with cash, his girlfriend had looked them up and said “you’re really getting a great deal.” But to their credit, they went through with the deal. Sold most or the raw Hulks years ago, but still have the 181, it came back a CGC 7.5. And by the way, there was a second lower grade 181 hidden under the nicer one in the bag (that was a delightful surprise). Sold that one though.
It might have been best to have bought the comics at a cheap deal and return and offer back to him a percentage of profits out of all fairness and respect. Saying this ahead of time could have him not sell them to you of course. If it were truly worth millions, offering him several thousands would still brighten his day I would think and would probably be the right thing to do. Although not directly my experience, my Dad has a similar story to yours. I remember him telling me his collection from the “50s and early 60s” included Spider-Man and Superman and similar to your Pokémon cards, the collection “in a box” all later were tragically thrown out in the trash after years of being stored in the attic…This could easily have included AF15, #1s, or other treasures, etc but he couldn’t remember which ones. Imagine finding something like that? Don’t sweat it too much. Some things are just out of our control.
Id pay the $100 and not risk the deal falling through by him getting greedy if i tell him what they're really worth. Get them graded and sold/put in the pc, etc.. . Return 1 day and surprise him with 50% of the profits/fmv (after grading/shipping/selling expenses subtracted).
Ouch- like serious ouch. I feel bad for the guy who sold them and was totally unaware, but I can’t lie I would probably give him as much as I could afford and then maybe after selling some of them another day and randomly give them half or at least a quarter of their value. We are all humans, and humans have greed and desire as strong motivators, but that’s practically theft to just give $100 for those books. Fuck I’m pissed! I need more blood pressure meds or something after hearing about this 😅.
Question is where were you on Saturday? Were you contemplating on going to the yard sale on Saturday probably feeling that you should have gone to or perhaps found out about the yard sale a day late or decided to wait until Sunday to see what comicbooks were available that was worth the wait? My goodness sorry to hear that sounds like it was a once of a lifetime opportunity one slip up and it's gone. If a person is determined on something to achieve the goals they want go for do it especially when it comes to hunting comicbooks of your likings, you'll never what you'll find in the wild worth your time and money. Personally i wouldn't tell the seller at a yard sale on the same day how much a certain comicbook (s) is worth until i buy them at a cheap price being sold for until i'm able to sell the comics then come back to the seller and tell him or her out of fairness how much they are really worth in the comicbook market then give half of the earnings the comicbook is actually worth just to be honest and fair to the seller and myself. A half million dollars worth of Silver-age comicbooks and maybe some Golden-age comicbooks as well stored in a safe unread if packaged properly with no damages and defects sounded very rare to hear about especially this story you told, wow. Keep on hunting and good luck.
Mint hunter i dont blame you cause i would be crying for weeks over this. Let me tell you what happened to me a few years ago i had a chance to get superman#1 from the 1940's near mint for $900 but i didn't have the money and it made me sick to my stomach.
I wouldn't but to much faith into what he said. I've had this same thing happen to me over and over and on many occasions found out it was like spectacular Spider-Man or something. People love to be a big shot. Oh shoot you just missed it I had a babe Ruth rookie, Just sold it. Guy acts like they don't know what they have but know just enough to tell ya what they had. Highly doubt he sold an original collection of spidey's.
@@MintHunterComics would be the fair thing to do, but something tells me that the dude would not want you to come back thinking you are full of bullshit or are trying to trick him somehow 🥴🥴
If I were to give him half their worth there's only few people I know that could afford it haha. I suppose I probably wouldn't have been able to pay for them outright anyway. Still I think I'd give the poor guy more than $100...
I could not with a good conscience take advantage of someone THAT bad. I would have offered to help him sell the comics. take a finders fee and a few select books for myself. That story would HAUNT me forever! NOT happy you shared that actually! HA HA. THANKS.
Yeah, but the thing is not everyone is the same. Not everyone has that mindset of good conscience. I told a guy at a yard sale his Spider-Man 300 wasn’t worth $2 but close to $200 (ATT) He on the other hand took every other book inside and didn’t let me look over them at all and I quote “I will do my homework on them I had no idea sorry but thanks” I was dumbfounded and learned a lesson that day. If people don’t have enough sense to do the research before the sale and depend on guys like me (collector) to let them know. It’s their fault and not mine. People aren’t so kind anymore. I agree with you 100% but people nowadays man....
This was hard to listen to man, I feel your pain brother 😫 Thanks for sharing this, I would think that I would tell him what they are worth but then again 🤣 🙏
I told him what it was worth and I literally the light leave his eyes lolol. But honestly how can you be so careless? Not to mention your grandfather left it to you. What a crying shame
i was 30 mins away from getting a high grade hulk 181 at a rummage sale about 10 yrs ago! Spidey being my favorite i would have gotten them as cheap as possible but id give alot more than $100......maybe $1,000 and my only reason is i wouldnt be flipping any of them and they would be in my personal collection and what would the chances of me finding those in the wild ever
Not gonna lie... It was REALLY HARD for me to hit the "like" button. I feel your pain. Unfortunately, I'm an honest person and I would have at least told him what they were worth and tried to make deal to maybe sell them for him and accept a commission fee. Ugh!
To your last question... I dont know what I'd do. But... if the guy is asking $100, then that's up to him to judge the value, and the same for the buyer. When I buy comics, I try to get the best deal I can because the fun for me is finding good comics as cheaply as possible. I end up with a lot of crap that's not worth much, but hopefully some are worth a lot. If this guy didnt respect what his father left him and just sold it for nothing, that's all on him. You cant blame the buyer for literally paying him what he was asking.
Honestly i could'nt have done that. I would have propose him to give me 3 comics for free like gwens death, first kingpin and first green goblin and help him sell the rest. Just for these 3 i would have slept very well knowing that i would have change this man's life and have these 3 great books in exchange.
I have one better for you my man.. because I HAD these things. My grandfather worked for Topps the card company in the early to late 50's. He had SETS of cards.. before ANYONE knew what a factory set even WAS. We had multiples of ALL the popular players. Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth all of it.. All of it gone.. into an incinerator because my MOTHER said it was taking up space.
I have the mindset that we are both adults, so I would ask him once maybe twice are you sure that’s what you want to sell them for??? If he doesn’t take that subtle hint to maybe do some research 1st then that’s on him. I give him the $100 and walk away with my treasures.
Of course I couldn't rob the guy like that. No doubt the dude who did, if he has any ethics is regretting it and maybe even returned them. One can hope.
I'm 98% honest most of the time. I'm a strong believer in KARMA. However if he was a jerk or was like here take this shit and get off my property type. Then I'd say thank you and drive off like the LLLLooonnneeee RRRRaaannngggeerrrr!! But if he was decent guy I'd buy them. But if I sold them if they were at least like 8.5 or higher. I'd most likely send him a check for half of what I got for them. I did buy like four huge old bulky boxes of comics once for $60. This old man just wanted them out of his car and his house. It was sub zero temps he drove like 80 miles to this LCBS. I was sitting in my car after working all day. Waiting for this guy to open. I thought the car parked in front of me. Was waiting for his wife to come out of this meat market next door to the comic store. After freezing myself in my car for like 30 mins. I got out to check the door to see if it might be open. Or if the employee might of been robbed, sleeping in a chair or was laying on the floor inside. No he wasn't there. This old man thought I was opening the store. He explained he'd been sitting in his car for like a hour and a half. So he was froze and pissed off. I guess someone was suppose to meet him there but never showed. I told him where the main store was. But it was rush hour and another 45 mins to that store at this time. He just said I got these four huge boxes. Been sitting in my spare room/attic since around 1976. I asked what he had, if he had any Marvel comics? I asked by various titles/characters too. He said yes 2/3s of them are Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, FF & Superman. With like half of one box being Classic Illustrated and funny books, like Popeye etc. He just said make me a offer unseen. All I had was $60 he said sold. Just get them out of my car. The neighborHOOD was pretty rough at night too. So I ended up making roughly $10,000 over the next four months. Traded some for some other titles in much higher grades and sold half right away. Half trade with a dealer friend I'd known for decades. Then I sold half of the traded comics to a good friend of mine. He got about $3500 worth of DC Showcase #22-#24 and GL #1-#50's? I got a NM/Mint run of X-Men #94-#200 and Incredible Hulks medium grade #102-#340's too. I sold the 90% never read warehouse/store that closed copies for like $4500 cash. I wish I had kept those X-Men though. But times were rough for me. The boxes had ASM #1-#50, Avengers #1-#25, Tales of Suspense #39-#60's, Various Hulks #102-#300, X-Men #1-#66, Hulks #180-#182 like triples in VF/VF plus condition too. But a third were coverless. A third were in fair condition another third in VF/VF+ condition. But it had mainly early key issues too.
It would make me sick to here a story like this. Never would I imagine to go to a place that would have those kind of books and pay someone 100 for all those books if they didn't know what it's worth. My conscience would eat me alive to swindle someome like that.. I would tell them what it's worth and if interested to sell make a generous offer. But to give them 100 and not mention the true value is Karma
Can you imagine? I know thats not the case though, he was literally hyperventilating when I told him he just gave away thousands. I thought he was going to pass out
Educate your children fam…I hear horror stories like this more often than not…I see it on estate sales…THAT’s when I thought about my daughters selling my collection for pennies in the future and was sick to my stomach….plan for your demise as we are all only temporary custodians of our books…and NO I would not be able to ethically do that…getting a deal is one thing but that would’ve been CRIMINAL…just my two cents probably worth as much 🥃
What’s worse is that the grandad knew his comic collection would be big one day and locked them in his safe to preserve them and he was right and they got sold for 100 dollars 😭😭😭
tragedy
I know your pain. Back in the early 60's I had EVERY Marvel grail of Spider-man, DD, FF, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, etc. I spent every cent I had buying mostly Marvel titles and had every first appearance. At one point I had over 200 books and my mom told me she was sick and tired of seeing them scattered around my room and to throw them away. I ended up selling them to the kid next door for $10. When I told my mom she flipped, saying I had cheated him and demanded I give him back his money.
Afterwards, any time a comic I had was on the news for selling for a record breaking price I'd mention to her that I had owned that comic but she made me give it away.
I'd like to say I got a little revenge that way but every time I told her she basically couldn't have cared less.
I couldn't afford to buy even one of those books at today's prices.
Same Thing Happend To Me But They Were Scissored Down & Strait to The Garbage Can. 🙄
Not in the same league but in the early 70's I had the Marvel Spotlights and 1st 20 or so Ghost Riders. My mum knew I liked comics and to be fair on the whole never nagged me to get rid of them. However one day she noticed the Ghost Rider and Son of Satan comics. I never saw them again. I guess she figured they were a bad influence.
Look at it this way -- you had life experiences that most collectors would envy. You were an O.G. Marvelite and personally helped transform the company into a success and then a cultural institution, by spending your nickels and dimes. You read the landmark stories when they were new, and anxiously awaited each mind-blowing new installment of your favorite titles. Nobody can take those things away, and even if they're intangible, so is the experience of seeing a top-flight musical act live, meeting a personal hero or attending a historic sporting event. So rock on with the glass half full. :)
@@reprintranch I agree with you 100%. Nothing today compares with the wonder and excitement I experienced with every new issue.
Tom, any chance that you're of Norwegian ancestry? I have cousins back in Norway who are also Nordlies.
@@greatpix Hi Robert -- Thanks for the reply, and I'm glad that you find enjoyment in the fact that you were a real-time reader of so much classic Marvel material. You deserve to feel good about recognizing the appeal and substance of Marvel comics right off the bat.
My own story is a variation -- back when I was in grade school (late 1960s, early '70s) one of my neighborhood friends had access to darn near every Marvel super-hero comic (and Sgt. Fury comic) published from about 1965 onward, courtesy of his two older brothers, who generously allowed their twerp brother and his twerp friends to read their comics. We'd sit in the TV room plowing through issue after issue while "Gilligan's Island" reruns (or whatever) played in the background. Though I never owned any comics from that collection, by the age of 10 I had read probably all of them (a few hundred) and I found them exciting, artful and sophisticated -- at least for a kid. Altogether, that collection made a big, very positive impact on me and there are some specific images and stories that I remember vividly, such as "Them!" from Tales of Suspense 78.
To answer your question, my Dad's father was full-blooded Norwegian, his parents having come to the U.S. in the 1880s as homesteading farmers, like so many Norwegians, Swedes and Finns. As I understand it, the name Nordlie was adopted by my family a few generations ago, and was previously Peterson (or some spelling variation.) I have no idea why the name was changed. Anyway, cheers to your cousins, and you can assure them that I am NOT the famous Norwegian football (soccer) coach named Tom Nordlie, I'm an unknown comic nerd with the same name.
"Ay, Brandine, I sold me them spider books. We ain't eatin roadkill tonite!"
LITERALLY! AGHHHH! 🤣🤣🤣
I feel your pain, man. Two stories to soothe you... Back in '91, my buddy and I, both in our early twenties are packing up our booth at a local comic convention and a guy in a postal uniform comes up and asks me if I'm interested in buying some comics and hands me a small box with about 15 comics in it. This box has ASM 1, FF 1, Avengers 1 and X-Men 1, along with a dozen other SA issues in it. I check to see if these are the reprints and they're not and these are easily 9.0's or better. I think, "Geez, I've only got about $300 in my pocket." I ask my buddy if he's got any cash and he says about $100. For whatever reason, I don't even make an offer on these, thinking $300 ain't gonna cut it. I tell him, "Hey man, these 4 comics are worth a lot of money." i then proceed to buy FF100 and Cap 101 - 105 from him - all are 9.2's or better. Later, and really every moment since that day, I try to kick my own ass for not even offering him $300 for the box or at least one or two of those #1's. Sheer dumbassery. # 2 - I bought Hulk 181 as a kid. Left it at my grandmother's. She throws it away. I'm 7 ... cash is not easy to come by and I don't want to buy that comic again at the flea market she took us to as there are others coming out that I want to read. It's 2021 and that's the last time i owned that comic.
That Hulk 181 being tossed is a tragedy! when I went off to college my parents threw out every single original pokemon card which are now worth thousands - I had binders and binders and binders
@@MintHunterComics I'm still searching for my original binder. Lord knows where it is though
@@MintHunterComics We had the Original Pokemon Starter Decks and because we did not know Anything about card gaming,we sold them around $50.00 each,Without checking their value in 2017!Could you please,tell us how much each 1998 Pokemon Starter Deck cards is worth before we strike our head to the wall?😭😭😭
Okay but isn't there also the possibility that this guy is just telling you a tall tale just to see your reaction? It's possible he never had any comics at all but he saw that they were valuable on a television show so he's just seeing what kind of reaction he can get out of you
I’ve had people I know and trust tell me they had comics they didn’t and in grades they didn’t. This happened to Mint Hunter when the person offered a facsimile thinking it was the first print just the other week. Happens
I have a good story from a comic shop in Branson Missouri. According to what they told me a younger guy around 20 years old came in with his grandfather’s ASM 1-800 and sold it all for $1000
I bought a good 20-30 early keys because the condition was SO GOOD and cheap. The comic book store owner told him of the value and the kid said he didn’t have the time because of school and needs quick cash.
Didn’t believe him until he showed me ASM 1 ready to be shipped to CGC
looked like a 8.0
It happens still. This was a year ago.
It can STILL HAPPEN - it's rarer and rarer but it can happen
@@MintHunterComics
No doubt. Loved the story. Got recommended your RUclips channel and watched a good amount of videos so far.
It’s a tough call. The problem is that if you tell him what they’re worth and offer to sell them for him for a percentage, I guarantee that he will just keep them, possibly call an auction house and you won’t see a penny. I’d hate myself, but I would probably end up buying them from him for $100.
I replaced this moment over and over in my head. Still not sure what I would have done
Agree.
Oh I would have totally paid 100 and been fine but that's cause those aren't books I'd be interested in reselling and otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford most of those big books
Agreed. Also, the guy literally just inherited this from his father and had zero respect for what his father left him. This was just handed to him... just like it was then handed to the buyer. It was life-changing money... for the buyer, because he knew what he was dealing in and put the effort to get out there and find those deals.
That's a good question about what would I do if I got there when he had all those comics? My normal inclination would be to ask what he wants for them (or whatever he is selling and I am trying to buy, be it comics or not) and then maybe negotiate, then settle on a price. I can't see myself saying, "oh no these are worth way more than $100.....so here, let me give you $10k (or whatever). Nope. If he doesn't know the value of what he is selling, that is on him. Just like all those stories of people finding valuable works of art/paintings at garage sales and antique shops.....fair game.
Oh....my....goodness! Wow, that's unbelievable.
Can you imagine? That would be completely life changing sigh
Eh, I'd take that guy's story with a grain of salt. I sell at flea markets and vendors tell those kind of stories all day long just to keep customers coming back. Like you said, everyone knows. If anything, people who are out of touch don't understand how worthless most comics are. They think everything is gold.
Just this past week, I was talking to a seller and mentioned Garbage Pail Kids. He immediately launched into a story about how he had just sold "a full set" of cards for $50. "Oh, you just missed it!" They'll play dumb just to get you to dig through their stuff a little longer. It's the same reason I'll seed the dollar comic boxes with a few $10-$15 comics.
TLDR - either pay fair market for them or rip him off (I lean towards rip off personally, since I can't afford fair market)
Here's the thing I don't see anybody saying - all comic transactions I have had for books that are backstock consist of the same conversation. Me: "Would you take (insert dollar amount here) for these books?" Them: "Yes" OR "No, the least I would take is (insert different dollar amount). The amount I offer depends on my budget and how much I think an individual comic is worth to me.
Here is the important part - NEVER OFFER TO BE THE MIDDLEMAN ON ANYTHING. Unless you're willing to write up a contract, greed inevitably get the better of one of the two parties. The other person will inevitably agree to your "deal" and then go do his own research. Then he'll find the real value and want to renegotiate. Read stories of people who pooled money for lottery tickets, won and then one person went and kept all the money. Someone always feels like they didn't get their fair shake.
Do what is best for your collection and don't worry about anyone else.
At last an honest person not your fault he didn't know what he had.
Years ago a buddy of mine had an ASM1, Hulk 180, 181, & 182 mixed in with other books he had owned as a child. I told him I wanted them, but couldn’t afford them right then. I told him I would buy them. He still GAVE them away to a friends kid who was just learning to read. Gonna go cry over that now.
I hear these stories so much which is another reason to slab you valuable comics. Otherwise they could fall into enemy hands and somebody gives grails away for nothing to a child who may ruin them. Nobody is giving a stack of cash to child but a $10k comic book sitting in a old box? Why not? haha
I think if they are slabbed though people know it is valuable and we be more hesitant to give it away or sell for cheap and get conned.
That's why the comics are better in the hands of the buyer. If this guy would sell them for $100, he would also easily just give them away to a 5-year-old or throw them in the fireplace on a cold night.
They're only worth whatever he was willing to sell them for. You snooze you loose. At least the comics are now in the hands of someone that knows their value. The guy you are describing didn't deserve them. I see this as a story with a happy ending.
Truth. I could see that guy (the seller) just literally burning them for firewood. He had no respect for them or the legacy that his father left to him and his child. Better in the hands of someone who would appreciate them.
These things still happen with barnyard finds even with vintage automobiles. People get stuff given to them and have no interest. It's too bad you couldn't see them in person. I would have paid him the 100 as well the guy clearly didnt do the research in the stuff he was selling
I agree to a certain extent, I mean come on dude! The slightest bit of research would have showed him what he had was gold. Smh
@@MintHunterComics or the fact that you know, it was in a safe.... still I coudln't just give the guy and his daughter a bill and call it a day.
My family has been antique dealers for fifty plus years. We use to set up at mall shows back in the 1980's. We had a gentleman ask if we purchased comics and told him yes. He said he would be back the next day. He arrived at our booth the next day pulling a hand cart with five long boxes. The long boxes were full with alk comics bagged and boarded. He collected Marvel comics exclusively. The books were in alphabetical and numerical order starting with Amazing Spider-Man. They started at number 4 and went to number 50. Next was Fantastic Four number 4 through 75. Conan the Barbarian number 4 through 35. X-Men number 4 through 65.Thor 107 through 140ish. Date devil 4 through 45. You see a pattern. His brother had sold all of the issues 1 through 3 to a local comic shop a couple years before for $1500.00. This brother was just heart broken and wanted to get rid of the rest before he lost them all to his brother. He wanted $500 a $100 A long box.
Great story. Thanks for sharing Your passion and adventures. Happy new year from Toronto Ontario Canada 😀 👍 ❤️ 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 ♥️ 💯💯
Yes this was kinda like when the cute girl down my street knocked on my door and I failed to answer. She literally wanted to come inside and play😣
The problem with telling someone that they have something thats way more valuable than their asking price is that you’ll run into to very real possibility of sparking their interest in researching it online and then wanting max value (even if they aren’t NM). Sure they might be thankful but now you walk away empty handed. A lot of people here have commented that its the tight thing to do, or you can help him sell them for what they’re worth in exchange for a few. The bottom line is, no one here is gonna willfully price themselves out of a collection like that.
Interesting points, I only told him the value once he said he sold it all. Man I would have lived to have gotten all that for $100... smh
Your so right. I dream of finding an incredible hulk #1 like that I might feel a little guilty but I would buy that book and probably a few I didn't want just so he wouldn't get suspicious.
You run into a very fine line and if you tell the person you are going to sell them for them and you will split the profits you will have nosy family members start to chime in as all of a sudden they are experts and that they may demand more or worse get lawyers involved. Not to mention they will be calling you every 24 hours thinking you have run off with their windfall of good fortune.
No good deed goes unpunished and you should have never told him how much the books were worth, because you don't know where he is financially. Telling someone how much something is could cause them to go bonkers. Maybe they are having a yard sale to raise money for an operation or for a family member or help them buy a car or pay for college. Sometimes it's best for people to remain ignorant. This almost falls along the line of lottery winners who go bankrupt in 5 years. Some people may have never had more than 10k in their bank account and to mention something like 500k they think they are rich.
@@johnwayne2103 Yea, just think of the guy that found an Action 1 in the wall of an old house. He knew what it was and then showed his family telling them it was worth a fortune. In comes the mother in law and tries to snatch the book from the guy and causes a 100 thousand dollar rip along the back cover. People are ignorant animals. Those books belong in better hands. 🤦🏻♂️
I think the sad thing about it all....if any of us with awesome comic book collections pass away suddenly, most family members would probably sell it, just to get rid of it for cheap and eliminate space or not worry about storage fees. It's just how it is. There are times where I had to get rid of comic book collections or high priced comics to vehicles which I instantly regret. So, my feeling now is...if I die and family members trash it or sell it cheap, at least I'm not alive to stress about it. As for the case of what happened, I think many collectors want a deal and would offer the money and if they bite, they got a steal. While you know they lost out on a lot of money, what's done is done and I would just keep it to myself and just move on.
Since I probably would've done most the legwork (packaging, grading, selling, etc.), I'd do a 50/50 split.
Did he specifically say 1960s? Because there is a real chance the Spiderman comics he mentioned coulda been the 1991 McFarlane series. Or the 1970s Spectacular or 1970s Spidey Super Stories. All 3 ran at least 80 issues so it's highly likely. I've had people say "HEY! I GOT OLD SPIDERMANS!" only to bring out the 90s McFarlanes, Spectacular or Marvel Tales.
Speaking of Marvel Tales, perhaps the owner had a long run of Marvel Tales starting with issue 137, when they reprinted Amazing Fantasy 15 and then proceeded to reprint all the Ditko and early Romita issues in sequence. A non-fan could easily confuse "comics with all the early Spider-Man material" and "all the early Spider-Man comics."
Amazing how a stack of comics could change your life forever. Sounds like an amazing fantasy!
Well, damn. That would definitely be painful. On both ends. Missing it and having sold it. Lol! I'd like to think that I would tried to have made a deal with him to sell them for him for some sort of reasonable fee... Either a fair piece of the $ or maybe one of the books.
I think I would have bought it from him but signed a deal to give him maybe 20 percent of the sales once i started flipping em
It would be difficult to do, you would want to keep them for yourself, but the right thing to do would be to help him sell them, and devide the profits.
That's what I think would have been the best move
I think I would probably buy them and then send him a check afterwards, maybe even anonymously after speaking with a lawyer and paying the taxes. Getting the person involved might make things sticky and bring in a lot of legal drama.
Comic books kept in a safe for a long time could have rusty staples. Not that it would matter at that price. Put silica gel in your safe with your valuable comics.
The guy who bought those books....if you are listening....just do the right thing and contact that previous owner....and work out a deal that you both win at. If you don't - Sheez - what kind of scam artist are you that can live with such selfishness?
Public service announcement!
@@MintHunterComics People who scam others of such amounts - knowingly doing so - "out of the gene pool!"
He didnt get swindled, its the seller’s responsibility to know the value of whats being sold, nobody is going to say “hey im not going to pay $100 dollars because these are worth about a half a million that i dont have so just keep them” everybody is going to pay that $100 and get the hell outta there. So its not the buyers fault at all
Nooooooo!! Omg that’s insane! But yes I have to agree.. isn’t it good luck that you got to witness that? And it instills hope that it could possibly happen again. You don’t know what you don’t know 😏
People will go their entire lives before running these comics especially in high grade, and they were handled to some dude on a silver platter lol. Its like winning the lottery but arguably even more exciting!
The look on your face at the beginning of the video SCREAMS PAIN!
Honestly, it’s a great story…. But…. I doubt it’s what you think…. “Untouched are probably 3.0-6.0….. 1-80 are probably missing many key issues…. But the thing is you will never know (unless a local guy starts selling his “grandfathers” collection……. ) you can’t let it get you down…… it’s just “the one that got away”
....I live in Warminster which is about 20 minutes away from Doylestown. Damn. I thought stories like that were a myth.
A sad story: I arrived at a yard sale to see this old guy sitting on a porch thumbing through cards and I'm like oh f***! I asked the lady how much are the cards. She tells me shes selling each box for $5.... The old guy had already grabbed about 30 of the boxes. All 1950s through 1970s Baseball, Football and Hockey. One box was sitting aside and I was able to sift through it real fast before she told me oh that ones sold too. It was 1979-80 Hockey. I saw at least 4 Gretzky rookies.... I even told her Ill pay $100 for just one of the Gretzkys. Nope, she wouldn't do that.. So I lingered around and I guess the guy got nervous and paid her for 20 of the boxes and literally took off walking quite fast. Got in his van and sped off. I wound up buying the rest sight unseen. Even though I missed all the 1950s-1973 baseball, ALL the football and hockey, I still walked away with well over $5,000 in Baseball cards. Had I been earlier by TEN minutes, I probably woulda scored over $100,000+ in cards. I unboxed them on my channel that day tho!
Clearly this guy was f-ing with you haha
I’d honestly pay what he wants. Only because as soon as you tell someone the real value. They get greedy then want to keep them and sell them theirselves. If you bought them for $100. And decided to sell them. You can come back and give him what you think is fair. Most times that back fires and get P/O
It was probably Spectacular Spider-man, dont worry.
Now im not as knowledgeable about comics and you dont know what you dont know, but as a fairly a new reader even I would assume those books to not be at cover price. What he said is definitely a best case scenario though. Spiderman has had so many different series through the years so a 1 through an exaggerated 80 of another kind of spiderman book sounds more probable to me. But hey miracles exist. 😅
I mean we live in a world where you can do your research (and should before selling something). Do I feel bad for the guy who could have made thousands? Nope. Do I feel like I would have done what the buyer did though? Also nope
I definitely wouldn't have swindled him. I would have bought it for $100 and then sold it all, and split the proceeds with him. If they were raw the split would probably be 50/50, and if they were slabbed I would give him 80 or 90%.
I want to share a slightly different story . a couple of years ago i was at a jewelers with my friend who was hoping to some weight in junk silver jewellery into cash and in front of us was a man who had just shown the owner an old gold us coin but he was only offered $50 for it . which he he declined it...but as he was leaving I asked if I could see it... it was a one dollar gold US GOLD COIN and I new that it had a gold content at that day of around $150... I had a $100 bill in my pocket and offered it to him and he accepted it and then I could see the look of anger or rage in the proprietor's face and i had a good feeling about what I had done.... I gave him twice the value of what this businessman would have given him but still made a good investment ..
I wonder if that person has made it public somewhere. Sad story for a lot of us but I still think that there's a lot of comics out there that are worth thousands under an old basement or attic.
I occasionally check news and message board I havent seen anything. Man my life would be very different if I had gotten there in time lol
@@MintHunterComics ha ha ha, I totally agree ha ha ha. One day you will find a holy grail just keep digging in odd places.
Oh man, thats brutal!! Keep fighting the good fight and you'll be that first guy to the table eventually. Love your channel. We like the same books thats for sure, lots of the same taste on my channel. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Vancouver comic junkie! Here's hoping for a big win one of these days!
You know what would be awesome? If it was true, and the guy who bought them gave them to a kid who read the hell out of them.
It's His Loss. It Could Have Been Worse He Could Have Gotten Them 4 $20.00 Buck's Don't Go To Far If i Died & Left My Collection I bet They Will End In The Trash ....
I would have taken them for $100, got them all graded. Sold them and gone back and given him half the cash. If you tell him and he says they aren't for sale anymore I think he would still get ripped off anyway or some other shmoe would be making a fat cut.
That's how I think I would have handled it too
You would end up with a tax problem but ok
Wooooooooooow. I have various ideas of what I think I would have done but honestly I have no idea. Maybe tell value of a few books I know, one on higher end, one on lower, then told him what I could afford to see if he’d take it?
It's still hard to know what I would have done these many months later
Idk what I would of done. I think the guy would of saw right through me. You can kinda tell when someone is into something. Like this guy who paid 100.... he was calm and cool the entire time. My heart would be racing and shaking.
So true, he must have flipping out internally. I have no idea how he kept his composure enough to snag all that. Im keeping my eye out on ebay for high grade complete runs of early spider hahaha
@@MintHunterComics - Definitely do a follow up video if you find it. Think I saw in a video that you were from NJ. I am as well. Going to Collector Fest tomorrow in Wayne.
Personally, I couldn't do that to someone especially if I know they're not rich. I like to think I would have told him they are worth a lot more than $100, and offered to help him sell them for a 30% commission. I'd also tell him I'd like that ASM #1 for $1000, and it would be fair. I tell me son that in our family, we pay our debts and we don't take advantage of people.
My god, the fact that someone was keeping something in a safe should have been a wake up call. I'd give him the $100 because I probably wouldn't have more cash available but I would return with a % of my profits upon selling them.
Its kind of like your buddy buys you a card and chucks in a lotto ticket as a cheap birthday present. You win a million dollars surely you would have to split it? Then again plenty wouldn't.
Thanks for sharing!
I would of bought them for a $100.00.
But after I got the real money for them I would of returned with a check of $500,000. Minus a fee/expenses. And if AF 15 was there well that would be for me.
Here’s my comment: I LIVE RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD FROM DOYLESTOWN, I’M LITERALLY ONE TOWN OVER! UGH!!!
BRO. YOU'RE NOT THAT FAR FROM ME! can you imagine how different your life would be if you stumbled on that???
I gave my daughter a large binder of Pokémon cards when she was a kid because Pokémon was just about dead at the time. She immediately sold it to a kid at school for 10 bucks and a sandwich. It would be worth about 30k today. I try not to think about it.
please, i would have happily given him what he was asking. you gotta protect yourself at all times...and all of you would have too
If anybody tells you they wouldn't have walked away for as little money it's possible, they're lying. I would like to think that I would have given them a little bit more, and then send him a good lump sum as a "Gift" No reasons given.
Actually, a pretty similar story happened to me, no where no the scale of this honestly. I found several major keys in dollar bins at a LCS. In that situation and as well as this, it would be foolish to negotiate yourself OUT of saving so much money.
Are you sure it was AMAZING Spider-Man. They could well have been Web of Spider-Man or the 90s McFarlane Spider-Man. If he thought cover price was what they were worth, that's a lot closer to the 100$. At cover price the guy could have bought ASM at 50.
I remember going to an estates sale that advertised "old 1940s comics,". Just missed getting them when another guy picked them up. Don't know the titles.
i always had fantasies about coming across things like that and getting my favorite comics for practically nothing. then i remember that i am a decent human being. i would have bought them, sold what i wanted to sell and give him about 50% of the net (after my taxes are taken out). yes, people should do their own research. and finders keepers and all that stuff. but it literally is stealing from someone who likely can't afford it. if i was looking to just get stuff for my own PC then that's a different story. because in that scenario both of us make out well.
I have a loss for words. I couldn't do it to him. I'd try to talk him into letting me sell them for him for 10-20%.
Well said
@@MintHunterComics also to clarify I over simplified my comment, I would do an appraisal, since this is a small but financially powerful I would do it complimentary. Give him raw and cgc values and let him decide on which direction to go and estimated turn around times
Story of my life... "oh yeah, an hour ago I gave away my original collection because I needed space."😒. I would bring real money back to him cuz I've been screwed before and that's a shitty feeling.
Smh
That one hurts. My best story was the time my girlfriend and I were vacationing in Rhode Island a few years ago. We go to a garage sale where the guy has a huge comic collection he’s selling. High grade 1960s Hulks and other Marvels including a decent 181. Unfortunately, I don’t have a couple hundred on me (what he was asking), so I rushed to find an ATM in an area I’m not familiar with. It’s like a freaking nightmare, hoping the guy won’t come to his senses before we return. Sure enough, when we return with cash, his girlfriend had looked them up and said “you’re really getting a great deal.” But to their credit, they went through with the deal. Sold most or the raw Hulks years ago, but still have the 181, it came back a CGC 7.5.
And by the way, there was a second lower grade 181 hidden under the nicer one in the bag (that was a delightful surprise). Sold that one though.
Fake story
@@dylansanders7035 still have the Hulk 181, pal. This is only one in a dozen similar stories
If his story was true, and I go there Saturday, I would offer to sell the books on a consignment basis that was fair to all involved
It might have been best to have bought the comics at a cheap deal and return and offer back to him a percentage of profits out of all fairness and respect. Saying this ahead of time could have him not sell them to you of course. If it were truly worth millions, offering him several thousands would still brighten his day I would think and would probably be the right thing to do.
Although not directly my experience, my Dad has a similar story to yours. I remember him telling me his collection from the “50s and early 60s” included Spider-Man and Superman and similar to your Pokémon cards, the collection “in a box” all later were tragically thrown out in the trash after years of being stored in the attic…This could easily have included AF15, #1s, or other treasures, etc but he couldn’t remember which ones. Imagine finding something like that? Don’t sweat it too much. Some things are just out of our control.
Id pay the $100 and not risk the deal falling through by him getting greedy if i tell him what they're really worth. Get them graded and sold/put in the pc, etc.. . Return 1 day and surprise him with 50% of the profits/fmv (after grading/shipping/selling expenses subtracted).
Ouch- like serious ouch. I feel bad for the guy who sold them and was totally unaware, but I can’t lie I would probably give him as much as I could afford and then maybe after selling some of them another day and randomly give them half or at least a quarter of their value. We are all humans, and humans have greed and desire as strong motivators, but that’s practically theft to just give $100 for those books. Fuck I’m pissed! I need more blood pressure meds or something after hearing about this 😅.
Question is where were you on Saturday? Were you contemplating on going to the yard sale on Saturday probably feeling that you should have gone to or perhaps found out about the yard sale a day late or decided to wait until Sunday to see what comicbooks were available that was worth the wait?
My goodness sorry to hear that sounds like it was a once of a lifetime opportunity one slip up and it's gone. If a person is determined on something to achieve the goals they want go for do it especially when it comes to hunting comicbooks of your likings, you'll never what you'll find in the wild worth your time and money.
Personally i wouldn't tell the seller at a yard sale on the same day how much a certain comicbook (s) is worth until i buy them at a cheap price being sold for until i'm able to sell the comics then come back to the seller and tell him or her out of fairness how much they are really worth in the comicbook market then give half of the earnings the comicbook is actually worth just to be honest and fair to the seller and myself.
A half million dollars worth of Silver-age comicbooks and maybe some Golden-age comicbooks as well stored in a safe unread if packaged properly with no damages and defects sounded very rare to hear about especially this story you told, wow. Keep on hunting and good luck.
I would have made a deal with him 60/40 or something like that. I couldnt have just $100. I wouldnt have been able to sleep if i did that.
I'm of the same mind. Shame that its been a couple months since this and I cant stop thinking about it blah
I have a similar story here in Canada. People just dont know how much comics gain in value
Such a shame!
Wow that's some story,it seems the only fair thing would be to make a deal to help sell them. Like you said ethics have to come into play.
I think they do, otherwise were just corporate af. Thats not what this is about!
Wouldn't be able to pay all of it upfront. Would make a deal with the dude to split 60/40 the profits from selling the books.
Oh boy!....it’s the same with vintage guitars, right?!....someone, somewhere has a 1959 Gibson Les Paul in their attic! Ha!
It's rare but sometimes people have the craziest things stored in their barns/attics etc
Mint hunter i dont blame you cause i would be crying for weeks over this. Let me tell you what happened to me a few years ago i had a chance to get superman#1 from the 1940's near mint for $900 but i didn't have the money and it made me sick to my stomach.
Hell I'm crying months after this!!! Hahaha
I wouldn't but to much faith into what he said. I've had this same thing happen to me over and over and on many occasions found out it was like spectacular Spider-Man or something. People love to be a big shot. Oh shoot you just missed it I had a babe Ruth rookie, Just sold it. Guy acts like they don't know what they have but know just enough to tell ya what they had. Highly doubt he sold an original collection of spidey's.
That is really tough, I probably would have told him what he had. I don't think I could have taken advantage of him. 🤔
I have two brains on the matter. One part of me totally would and one part knows that I couldn't
Struck a deal with him, tell him “give them to me and when i sell all this books we go 50/50, desl?”
I replay this in my head all the time and I think that's probably what I'd do
@@MintHunterComics would be the fair thing to do, but something tells me that the dude would not want you to come back thinking you are full of bullshit or are trying to trick him somehow 🥴🥴
Honestly i would have gave him at least half of what they where worth but to give him 100 dollars that guy flat out robbed that man.
If I were to give him half their worth there's only few people I know that could afford it haha. I suppose I probably wouldn't have been able to pay for them outright anyway. Still I think I'd give the poor guy more than $100...
I could not with a good conscience take advantage of someone THAT bad. I would have offered to help him sell the comics. take a finders fee and a few select books for myself. That story would HAUNT me forever! NOT happy you shared that actually! HA HA. THANKS.
Dude I honestly wish it didn't happen to me... I CAN'T SLEEP!
Yeah, but the thing is not everyone is the same. Not everyone has that mindset of good conscience. I told a guy at a yard sale his Spider-Man 300 wasn’t worth $2 but close to $200 (ATT) He on the other hand took every other book inside and didn’t let me look over them at all and I quote
“I will do my homework on them I had no idea sorry but thanks”
I was dumbfounded and learned a lesson that day. If people don’t have enough sense to do the research before the sale and depend on guys like me (collector) to let them know. It’s their fault and not mine. People aren’t so kind anymore.
I agree with you 100% but people nowadays man....
This was hard to listen to man, I feel your pain brother 😫 Thanks for sharing this, I would think that I would tell him what they are worth but then again 🤣 🙏
I told him what it was worth and I literally the light leave his eyes lolol. But honestly how can you be so careless? Not to mention your grandfather left it to you. What a crying shame
@@MintHunterComics Seriously, a 3 second Google search could have honored his Pops🤦♂️
Wow! That’s a crazy find! That’s insane! Great story
Yes it was!
i was 30 mins away from getting a high grade hulk 181 at a rummage sale about 10 yrs ago! Spidey being my favorite i would have gotten them as cheap as possible but id give alot more than $100......maybe $1,000 and my only reason is i wouldnt be flipping any of them and they would be in my personal collection and what would the chances of me finding those in the wild ever
i on the fence about getting a moon knight 1 the Jeff Lemieur run for 20
DO it!!!
Not gonna lie... It was REALLY HARD for me to hit the "like" button. I feel your pain. Unfortunately, I'm an honest person and I would have at least told him what they were worth and tried to make deal to maybe sell them for him and accept a commission fee. Ugh!
Hahaha I know what you mean. I still think about this every day though. It haunts me
To your last question... I dont know what I'd do. But... if the guy is asking $100, then that's up to him to judge the value, and the same for the buyer. When I buy comics, I try to get the best deal I can because the fun for me is finding good comics as cheaply as possible. I end up with a lot of crap that's not worth much, but hopefully some are worth a lot. If this guy didnt respect what his father left him and just sold it for nothing, that's all on him. You cant blame the buyer for literally paying him what he was asking.
Honestly I think that guy that offered 100 dollars is a super creep.
I hope they go to hell.
At least offer a few thousand.
Isn't that super predatory? ugh
Bought 100 GA for 300 and X-men 94-130 for cover price in the 80s
Just seen this I would have sold them for him. Through Heritage Auction and split the money.
I probably would of done the $100 thing also, BUT I would of kept them all and not flipped them.
Honestly i could'nt have done that. I would have propose him to give me 3 comics for free like gwens death, first kingpin and first green goblin and help him sell the rest. Just for these 3 i would have slept very well knowing that i would have change this man's life and have these 3 great books in exchange.
I have one better for you my man.. because I HAD these things. My grandfather worked for Topps the card company in the early to late 50's. He had SETS of cards.. before ANYONE knew what a factory set even WAS. We had multiples of ALL the popular players. Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth all of it..
All of it gone.. into an incinerator because my MOTHER said it was taking up space.
I have the mindset that we are both adults, so I would ask him once maybe twice are you sure that’s what you want to sell them for??? If he doesn’t take that subtle hint to maybe do some research 1st then that’s on him. I give him the $100 and walk away with my treasures.
I replay this moment in my head all the time, if I was there a day sooner part of me likes to think thats what I'd do
He probably talked him down from whatever they were originally priced.
I would have bought them for 100 sold them and afterwards wouldve come back and split it into half of what i sold them. Fair enough i think
I would have told him not to sell them and told them what they’re worth so he would know. That one guy was wrong for that
Of course I couldn't rob the guy like that. No doubt the dude who did, if he has any ethics is regretting it and maybe even returned them. One can hope.
I'm 98% honest most of the time. I'm a strong believer in KARMA. However if he was a jerk or was like here take this shit and get off my property type. Then I'd say thank you and drive off like the LLLLooonnneeee RRRRaaannngggeerrrr!! But if he was decent guy I'd buy them. But if I sold them if they were at least like 8.5 or higher. I'd most likely send him a check for half of what I got for them. I did buy like four huge old bulky boxes of comics once for $60. This old man just wanted them out of his car and his house. It was sub zero temps he drove like 80 miles to this LCBS. I was sitting in my car after working all day. Waiting for this guy to open. I thought the car parked in front of me. Was waiting for his wife to come out of this meat market next door to the comic store. After freezing myself in my car for like 30 mins. I got out to check the door to see if it might be open. Or if the employee might of been robbed, sleeping in a chair or was laying on the floor inside. No he wasn't there. This old man thought I was opening the store. He explained he'd been sitting in his car for like a hour and a half.
So he was froze and pissed off. I guess someone was suppose to meet him there but never showed. I told him where the main store was. But it was rush hour and another 45 mins to that store at this time. He just said I got these four huge boxes. Been sitting in my spare room/attic since around 1976. I asked what he had, if he had any Marvel comics? I asked by various titles/characters too. He said yes 2/3s of them are Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, FF & Superman. With like half of one box being Classic Illustrated and funny books, like Popeye etc. He just said make me a offer unseen. All I had was $60 he said sold. Just get them out of my car. The neighborHOOD was pretty rough at night too. So I ended up making roughly $10,000 over the next four months. Traded some for some other titles in much higher grades and sold half right away. Half trade with a dealer friend I'd known for decades. Then I sold half of the traded comics to a good friend of mine. He got about $3500 worth of DC Showcase #22-#24 and GL #1-#50's? I got a NM/Mint run of X-Men #94-#200 and Incredible Hulks medium grade #102-#340's too. I sold the 90% never read warehouse/store that closed copies for like $4500 cash. I wish I had kept those X-Men though. But times were rough for me. The boxes had ASM #1-#50, Avengers #1-#25, Tales of Suspense #39-#60's, Various Hulks #102-#300, X-Men #1-#66, Hulks #180-#182 like triples in VF/VF plus condition too. But a third were coverless. A third were in fair condition another third in VF/VF+ condition. But it had mainly early key issues too.
Sad and great story Brother! I would have been honest and told him the value of the comics and show him the online value.
Thanks man!
It would make me sick to here a story like this. Never would I imagine to go to a place that would have those kind of books and pay someone 100 for all those books if they didn't know what it's worth. My conscience would eat me alive to swindle someome like that.. I would tell them what it's worth and if interested to sell make a generous offer. But to give them 100 and not mention the true value is Karma
Well I personally need all of these for my collection. I wouldn't pay $100, but I would pay a couple thousand.
I would have easily too
Damn dude, maybe he was just yanking your chain to make you feel bad for missing out?
Can you imagine? I know thats not the case though, he was literally hyperventilating when I told him he just gave away thousands. I thought he was going to pass out
@@MintHunterComics wow lol
I’d def come back and give him a portion.
No... no... no waayyy. Wtf!!! 😯
I mean I'm broke broke so deals must be made ahaha 😅 this is one insane story!!! 😟
I'm broke as hell too but that would have been the best $100 I've ever spent! Lolol
Educate your children fam…I hear horror stories like this more often than not…I see it on estate sales…THAT’s when I thought about my daughters selling my collection for pennies in the future and was sick to my stomach….plan for your demise as we are all only temporary custodians of our books…and NO I would not be able to ethically do that…getting a deal is one thing but that would’ve been CRIMINAL…just my two cents probably worth as much 🥃